February 20

Communication 
Underwood Foundation Spring Gala - tickets are now available -- Gala tickets for Friday, March 24, 7:00pm at CAM. 

Magnet Seats - 36 students have been selected to join our school through the magnet application process for the 2017-18 school year. We will be having a Meet and Greet on Tuesday the 21st at 10:00 in the media center. If you have time, feel free to stop in and say hi to our new families.

Employee Transfer Process : March 1 - May 1
The transfer request period will open on March 1, 2017 and close on May 1, 2017 at 11:59pm. During this window employees may interview and accept positions for the 2017-18 school year without their current Principal's permission. After this window closes, interviews and/or transfer requests for the 2017-18 school year will require your current Principal's permission and HR approval.

Employees must create an internal AppliTrack application at http://www.applitrack.com/wcpss/onlineapp. If you already have an existing AppliTrack account, login to your account and go to #2 “Current Employment Status” and select the option for current employees. Do not create another AppliTrack account if one already exists.

Collaboration 

Way to go Special Education Team!

Discovery Education Cohort - Underwood is one of 27 schools partnering with Discovery Education to help drive system-wide Learning and Teaching transformations. We have created a small cohort comprised of Underwood staff as well as a professional learning consultant from Discovery Education. Our focus will revolve around learning, reflecting, and dialogue with each other about the 4 C's, Learner Agency, Social Emotional Learning, and Digital Learning. The cohort will meet 3 times this year (Feb. 20, Mar 21, & April 7. As part of our learning, Learning Walks will be conducted each time where a small group of 2-3 staff members will spend 10-15 minutes in some of your classrooms. These Learning Walks will occur between 10:45-11:45. Our learning consultant is Libby Galster and below is a quick video introducing herself to Underwood.
Video introduction


Conscious Discipline: Ms. Gary and Mrs. Romero using Feeling Buddies curriculum with the class. They were discussing how the Feeling Buddies can be used in their Safe Place.

PLTs - Travis will be attending a High 5 PLT training on Tuesday with the five surrounding counties as a part of WCPSS mission to support collaboration. 

2017 SAS Curriculum Pathways Summer Teacher Institute - Deadline February 26
We are excited to announce our 2nd Summer Teacher Institute - an opportunity with area teachers to join our team for a paid, 8-week edtech immersion. You can find all the details here: http://blogs.sas.com/content/sascp/2017/01/31/2017-teacher-institute/.

Critical Thinking
SSA - Single Subject Acceleration information has been updated for next school year. Information can be found on our website - http://www.wcpss.net/site/default.aspx?DomainID=5231. With parent sessions information found here. Please send all nomination to Jen Page and Heather Callahan by 4/26. (Teachers please add to you weekly newsletter).

Input Sessions on Curriculum: February 20 - March 2
We Need YOU! We are hosting a series of curriculum review sessions Feb. 20-March 2. We seek input from teachers, staff, parents and community around new resources for curriculum offerings that we will begin implementing this fall. Please take a look at the MEMO from Assistant Superintendent for Academics Brian Kingsley.

Teacher Assistant Professional Learning Opportunities 
View the Schedule with your WCPSS Google account to see the available sessions and eSchools information.Teacher Assistants, please register in eSchools for the session(s) you are interested in attending. All classes are optional! Sessions are held at Crossroads II, 110 Corning Road, Cary, NC 27518 and occur from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. For questions, please contact Susan Andrews, sandrews@wcpss.net, 919-694-0244.

Master of Education Elon’s Master of Education program with you and your teachers. We will host an on-campus information session on Tuesday, February 28 at 5 p.m. and a virtual information session on Tuesday, March 7 at 6 p.m.

Creativity 

Mrs. Mann is offering an art class to any interested staff members which will occur over two 1 hr sessions in the afternoon. If you are interested in taking this class, please sign up using the link below!
Signing up for an art class

February is Love the Bus Month